“If there are marginal revenues that need to be raised in a nonbroad-based way, I think that is where we will be looking to close this thing up.”
_Jeremy Fischer, Democratic state representative from Presque Isle and co-chair of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, quoted by the Capitol News Service on March 17, 2008, on how the state budget could be balanced.
(Nonbroad-based? Is that sort of the anti-Eliot Spitzer approach?)
“Then it was revealed ... the assassin was a Castrophiliac Stalinoid.”
_John Frary, Republican candidate for Congress in Maine’s 2nd District, commenting on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, on the As Maine Goes Web site, March 16, 2008.
(Funny, but you never hear Frary’s opponent, Democratic US Representative Mike Michaud, use big words like that.)
“It’s like going through puberty again.”
_Cheryl Leeman, Portland city councilor, quoted in the Portland Press Herald, March 17, 2008, on reconstructive surgery after her double mastectomy.
(After puberty, won’t you be way too mature to hang out with Portland city councilors?)
“Our attorney costs for the past year have been in cleaning up our behavior ... It’s OK to disagree, but there is something wrong with how we do things, and here we go again, what’s next? At a meeting last week with Mexico, people were saying why would they want to merge with us?”
_Greg Buccina, Rumford selectman, quoted in the Lewiston Sun Journal, March 7, 2008, after he and Selectman Brad Adley voted to dismiss two other selectmen for allegedly failing to follow proper procedures, a move that was later determined to be itself improper and was rescinded.
(It’s like going through puberty again.)
“[Maine needs to] bring all kinds of people and ideas to engage in a cluster around a heritage trail or an arts trail.”
_Karen Mills, chair of the governor’s Council on Jobs and Innovation, on Maine Public TV’s Conversations With Maine program on February 14, 2008, explaining how the state could promote the “creative economy.”
(We already have “a cluster” at the State House around the budget trail and the tax trail. How’s that working out?)
“If you have not seen our website, I urge you to go to tomledue.com.”
_Tom Ledue, Democratic US Senate candidate, posting on his Web site.
(If you have not read this sentence, I urge you to read this sentence.)
“Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn’t here.”
_message on the Web site of Michael Brennan, Democratic candidate for Congress in Maine’s 1st District, which appears when visitors attempt to access the archive of news stories about him.
(Maybe it’s on Tom Ledue’s Web site. Or Lewis Carroll’s.)
“DirigoChoice is currently funded by a highly unpopular savings offset payment (SOP) on health insurance claims. The proposal would end the SOP and replace it, in part, with revenues from an increased tax on tobacco products. It is only logical to shift Dirigo’s funding from the backs of those struggling to afford health insurance to taxes on items that increase the cost of health insurance for all Maine people ... As Maine’s largest health benefits company, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield supports an increase in the tobacco tax to reduce tobacco use, especially among our youth.”
_Mark Ishkanian, chairman of the American Lung Association of Maine and director of communications for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and Ed Miller, executive director of the American Lung Association of Maine, in an op-ed published in the March 18, 2008, Morning Sentinel, arguing for a bill that would, among other things, raise the tax on cigarettes by 50 cents a pack.
(Notice that phrase “in part” in Ishkanian’s and Miller’s second sentence? Here are some of those “in part” things not mentioned in this essay: The legislation would replace the SOP — which insurance companies pay — with a 1.8 percent surcharge on all hospital bills — which are paid by patients. In addition, the measure would provide tax dollars to cover some costs associated with insurance company customers who make lots of expensive claims. And it would lift several state regulations that prevent the insurance industry from making higher profits. If the state raises the tax on smoke, this op-ed is going to owe a fortune.)
“Trooper Leonard stopped Diane Messer, 54, on Route 3 in Montville for operating a vehicle without a hood. Messer was arrested on outstanding warrants and taken to the Waldo County Jail where she was also charged with operating after suspension and failing to obtain a license within 30 days of residency.”
_MaineCoastNow.com, State Police blotter, March 4, 2008.
(Diane Messer of Liberty is a Democratic candidate for state Senate District 23. In a phone conversation, she blamed her license-suspension problem on “a clerical error” and her lack of a hood on a mechanical failure earlier in the day. According to Dan Dunkle, editor of the Republican Journal in Belfast, there’s nothing in Messer’s campaign profile indicating she’s opposed to hoods.)
Pithy remarks and snide comments may be e-mailed to me at aldiamon@herniahill.net. You can quote me on that.
